Critics say the new central farm laws put farmers at a major disadvantage.
Jaipur:
Rajasthan today became the second Indian state after Punjab to counter the contentious national farm laws passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Central government last month with its own new bills.
Shanti Dhariwal, Cabinet Minister in Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government, introduced the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill 2020, and the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill 2020 in the state Assembly.
He also introduced the Code of Procedure (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill 2020 on the first day of the Assembly session.
On October 20, Punjab became the first state to formally reject and counter the three controversial central farm laws.
Punjab has emerged as the epicentre of protests against the central laws passed in, with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi leading tractor rallies in the state.
Critics of the centre’s laws have said it will rob farmers of access to a minimum support price (MSP), a guaranteed sale prices that are a source of credit in hard times like droughts and crop failure, and removal of which will severely impact small and marginal farmers.
They also point that the entry of private players, facilitated by the centre’s laws, will weaken farmers’ bargaining powers.
PM Modi’s government, however, has insisted that by removing any barrier to inter- and intra-state trade of farm and agricultural produce, the laws empower farmers to sell their goods at markets and prices of their choice.
The Prime Minister himself has repeatedly assured farmers that MSPs will not be scrapped, but verbal assurances have done little to ease concerns.